The Place of Houses

Richly illustrated with houses large and small, old and new, with photographs, plans, and cutaway drawings, this is a book for people who want a house but who may not know what they really need, or what they have a right to expect.

The authors establish the basis for good building by examining houses in the small Massachusetts town of Edgartown; in Santa Barbara, California, where a commitment was made to re-create an imaginary Spanish past; and in Sea Ranch, on the northern California coast, where the authors attempt to create a community. These examples demonstrate how individual houses can express the care, energies, and dreams of the people who live in them, and can contribute to a larger sense of place.
Originally published: New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, c1974.
"For anyone thinking about building a new house, this is probably the book I'd recommend first. . . What's so great about THE PLACE OF HOUSES? It's the way it says, with rare eloquence, that houses are not about their architects."--"Boston Globe